


Home for Christmas

by NightwingDiva



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, Modern AU, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 09:09:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5451206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightwingDiva/pseuds/NightwingDiva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nagamas gift for HollowedMemories on tumblr.<br/>Prompt was Christmas: Chrom x F! Robin (I opted for a modern setting. I hope it's okay.)</p><p>Robin wants to spend Christmas with her boyfriend, but he's stuck at the airport. Chrom wants to surprise Robin for Christmas, so he tells a white lie that eventually puts him in the emergency room. He makes up for his screw up, though, and asks Robin a very important question.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home for Christmas

“But Chrom, you know you’re the only person I have to spend Christmas with,” Robin said over the phone, failing to mask the disappointment in her voice.

“What about your friends on your research team?” Chrom asked over the receiver.

“We finished our project last week, and they all have families to go to.”

“Who would have thought a bunch of biochemists had lives,” Chrom muttered mostly to himself.

“Hey! I heard that!”

“Why don’t you go knock on Gaius’s door? I bet he’s not doing anything,” Chrom suggested, trying to avoid a fight.

“He and Sumia are baking cookies. Actually, it’s probably more like Sumia’s baking cookies and Gaius is eating the cookie dough,” she said. “And it’s not the same, Chrom. You said you’d be home for Christmas.”

“I’m sorry, love, but we are completely snowed in,” said Chrom; a woman over the airport intercom called for the next flight to begin boarding, and Chrom sincerely hoped that there was too much interference over the phone for Robin to understand what she was saying. “We’ll be lucky to leave by tomorrow evening. I’ll make sure you get the best Christmas present ever, okay?”

“But you’re the only thing I wanted,” she muttered, and Chrom could almost see her lip curling into a pout.

“Robin, love, I promise I’ll make it up to you. This hurts me as much as it does you.”

“I’m sure it does. Well, alright, Mr. CEO. I’ll let you off the hook for now,” she paused before adding in a soft tone, “Call me before you take off, alright.”

“I will,” he said, and after a short exchange of goodbyes, they hung up. Chrom ran his fingers through his cobalt hair and looked around the airport. The passengers at his gate were shuffling and starting to gather their things. He really hated lying to his girlfriend like that, but he really was going to make up for it. He clutched the small box in his pocket as Frederick approached him.

“Sir, I believe they are boarding first class right now.”

“Thank you, Frederick. And, please, don’t call me ‘sir’ in places like this. People are staring like we’re freaks.”

“I do apologize, but we really should be boarding.”

“Okay, then. Let’s go,” Chrom said as he gripped his briefcase and checked his pocket again before boarding the plane that was very much not delayed by a snowstorm.

___

Robin sulked into her chair with a mug of hot chocolate and admired the lights and ornaments on her Christmas tree. She picked out the ornaments, but decided to let Chrom choose the silver star that gleamed on the top. She hadn’t been living in this little house very long, so when Christmas time rolled around she was fresh out of decorations. She was especially excited to find that this house had a real fireplace with a mantle, perfect for the old fashioned, traditional, stocking hanging. She smiled sadly at the glittering tinsel framing the fireplace.

She was really hoping that this year she’d finally have the perfect Christmas. Last year she and Chrom had just started dating, so they weren’t really close enough to spend the holiday together, and every year after her mother’s passing had been spent trying not to think about the holidays.

Her mind drifted back to her childhood. While it was far from perfect, her mother’s smile always made her heart smile. It wasn’t fair for such a good, gentle woman to succumb to cancer at such a young age. Robin was fifteen when her mother left her for good, and her father had been all but nonexistent ever since. Not that it bothered her very much. This was the only time of year that she felt the absence of her family.

Tears stung her eyes as she thought about how very alone she was. Her friends from work had their families, and even Gaius had his girlfriend Sumia. It seemed like everyone else had somebody, and here she was, alone on Christmas Eve while her boyfriend was trapped in an airport.

After finishing her drink, she grabbed the nearest remote and turned on the wireless radio to a Christmas station. Curling up in a quilt, she decided a book would be the best way to keep her mind off things; social media sure wasn’t the answer, as it had the tendency to make this time of year worse. Before she had finished the first chapter of her book, she had drifted off into a dreamless sleep with the hopes that tomorrow would be better than today.

___

It was late when Chrom’s plane landed, and by the time he and Frederick collected their luggage, it was well past midnight.

“Oh, by the way, Frederick, you’re free to go home now. I know you have some friends and family here that would probably rather you spend time with them than your boss,” Chrom said as he deposited his suitcase in the trunk of his black sedan.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, of course! I mean, how much trouble could I possibly get into without my bodyguard if I’m just going to Robin’s house? I’ll even drop you off. Consider it a Christmas bonus.”

“If you insist,” Frederick knew better than to argue with Chrom when it came to matters like this; his stubborn will was one reason he was so successful. He slid into the passenger seat of the car. “If I may be so bold, sir, you seem to be in an extremely good mood.”

“What are you talking about? It’s Christmas! Of course I’m in a good mood.”

“That’s not exactly a reason to be quite so cheerful. Especially at 12:30 in the morning.”

“It is a perfectly valid reason for being cheerful! I’m just trying to spread the Christmas cheer!”

Frederick eyed his boss, “You’ve got something planned for Robin, don’t you?”

“What? Why would you say—” he trailed off as he caught Frederick’s eye. They were stopped at a red light; the sky started spitting snowflakes here and there. He sighed and pulled the small box from his pocket and put it in the center console; he gently pressed the gas as the light turned green. “Yes. I have something really big planned for her, and I want it to be a surprise.” That man seemed to know everything Chrom would do even before he did.

“I’m sure you do,” Frederick smiled.

“Can we just leave it at that?”

“For now, we can.”

“Good. So, how do I get to Cordelia’s house?”

___

Chrom wasn’t really sure what in his mind decided he should climb Robin’s roof. After he dropped Frederick off, his mind started to scatter a little bit, and he was trying to think of a creative way to surprise Robin. A phone call to Gaius and an extension ladder later, he found himself halfway up her house with full intentions of climbing down her chimney.

“I’m not too sure about this, Blue,” Gaius yawned. The redhead was fast asleep when Chrom called.

“Shhh. It’ll be fine. If it doesn’t look like it’s going to work out then I’ll come down.”

Gaius stifled another yawn. “Remind me again why you can’t just use the front door like a normal human being.”

“Because, that wouldn’t be very festive. It’s Christmas Eve after all!” Chrom reached the roof. The snow flurry from earlier slowly increased until the air was filled with white flakes.

“Technically, it’s Christmas Day at this point. And I don’t think you understand how chimney’s work, Blue. Also, you owe me cookies and milk for waking me up during a food coma.”

“I’m sure my baking has nothing on Sumia’s,” he called down at his friend.

Chrom carefully placed his feet as he walked up the roof to the chimney; he was extremely disappointed to find that he couldn’t get the cap off to climb down the chimney. In a frustrated gesture he threw his arms in the air and turned around. As he did so, his foot found a small patch of ice. Before he knew what was happening, Chrom found that the falling snowflakes had decided to freeze in the air.

___

Robin jerked awake to a loud bang outside her living room window, followed by a yell of pain and a familiar voice yelling “I told you so!”

Robin threw on her house slippers and jerked on a coat before running outside toward Gaius’s yelling.

“Gaius! You are going to wake up the whole neighborhood! What the hell are you doing? Chrom?!” Robin all but yelled in disbelief.

There lay her boyfriend in a crumpled heap next to a ladder, clutching his right arm while Gaius began trying to frantically explain the situation.

“Look, I told him it was a bad idea but he wouldn’t listen and he wanted to surprise you by climbing down the chimney, but that obviously didn’t happen, and I really just wanted to stay in bed and dream of Sumia’s chocolate chip cookies but nooo, Blue here had to try to be all romantic and surprise you for Christmas—”

“Gaius! We can sort this out later. Right now we need to get him to the hospital!”

“No, I’m fine. Really. Robin, I’m sorry I lied about the airport, I—” he tried to get up and winced as he bumped his arm into the ladder.

“Save it,” she interjected. “Gaius, clean this up before going home. Let’s go, Chrom.”

___

The ER was surprisingly busy for a holiday night. Three people were ahead of them, and the nurse at the front desk laughed when Chrom explained how he hurt himself. She told them that the wait may be a bit longer than usual since most of the staff were home for the holiday.

“Have I ever told you how pretty you are when you worry?” Chrom asked as they sat down in the waiting room after filling out paperwork. She had found a pair of jeans and an oversized gray sweater to put on before they left, and her white hair was still in a sloppy bun from when she was sleeping. Of course, he always thought she was beautiful, but that wasn’t relevant right now, was it?

“Have I ever told you that it’s a good thing your business doesn’t run on common sense?” Robin retorted. She refused to look at him and instead stared at the tv. Maybe that wasn’t the best way to smooth things over right now.

Chrom patted his rumpled coat feeling for the small box he had earlier only to find it wasn’t there. Then he remembered taking it out of his pocket while talking to Frederick; he must have left it in his car. “Hey, love, do you think you could call Frederick for me?” Robin gave him the death glare. “Or at least dial for me? I’ll talk to him.”

Robin gave an exasperated sigh before dialing the bodyguard’s number on her phone and handing it to him. It rang twice before Frederick answered. “Hello, sir? Is everything okay?”

“Um, not really Frederick. But before you freak out, Robin’s with me and we are at the ER right now.”

“What have you done?”

“I may have fallen of a roof.”

“What?!”

“But that’s not why I need you right now, Frederick. Remember what we talked about earlier? About why I was in such a good mood?”

“Yes,” Frederick said, suspicion in his voice.

“Well, I’ve left something very important in my car at Robin’s house, and it has to do with that. You’ll know what it is when you see it, especially if you open it. I need you to bring it to me as soon as possible.”

“Understood. I’ll leave right away.”

“Thank you,” Chrom said before hanging up the phone. Relief washed over his body. He handed the phone back to Robin, who had gone to get them a drink from the vending machine.

“At least you get to spend Christmas with me after all,” Chrom said as she sat down.

“Merry Christmas to me. And you apparently. I hope you wanted a broken arm,” she leaned back in the chair. Before she could get any other words out, a man in a red suit who seemed to be in a lot of pain was rolled in by a woman who appeared to be his wife.

“Sir, how did you do this?” the nurse at the counter asked the new patient.

“He fell off our ladder while trying to get to the roof to play Santa for our daughter, I think he may have hit his head,” the woman replied.

“Oh, come on! How stupid do you have to be to fall off a ladder?” Robin exclaimed.

Chrom cut his eyes at her while cradling his wounded arm. “You’re really going to go there?”

“I’m sorry, dear. I meant ‘how ignorant do you have to be to think that climbing a roof is a good idea?’”

“Robin, I was trying to be romantic.”

“Oh! I’m sorry, but my idea of romantic is not thinking someone is breaking into my house, Chrom! It’s not sitting alone on Christmas Eve knowing that the next day I’ll still be alone. It’s not waking up to a bang just to find that my boyfriend has fallen off my roof. And it’s certainly not sitting in a waiting room while you keep apologizing and wincing in pain. No, my idea of romantic is sitting by the fire with a mug of hot chocolate and the man I love. Which is what we’d be doing right now if you wouldn’t have lied about your ‘delayed’ flight just to pull this whole stunt, which has landed us in the emergency room on Christmas Eve!”

“Robin, I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to surprise you.”

“Chrom, you know what this means to me,” her eyes grew misty. “You know that you are the only person I have to share this holiday with. I get that you wanted to surprise me, but thinking that I was going to be alone again really hurt.”

Chrom felt his heart shatter. Everything he’d done suddenly seemed stupid, even to him. He gripped her hand with his good arm, tears growing in his eyes as well, “I’m so, so sorry. Seeing that I’ve hurt you is the worst pain I’ve ever felt. And let me tell you, this arm is pretty bad. Robin,” he looked deep into her warm brown eyes, “I would never, ever, intentionally do something to hurt you.”

His pleading gaze melted her anger away. “I know. I just love you too much.”

“I love you, too,” he kissed her forehead before pulling away and watching the early morning infomercial with her.

The two of them waited several more minutes until they were called back to the examining room where they waited even longer to see a doctor. Eventually Chrom went in for an x-ray for his arm and torso.

“Well, you don’t seem to have a concussion, but you do have a couple of cracked ribs and a broken arm,” the doctor said. “I’ll have a nurse come in and fix you up, and then you’ll be free for the holiday!” He left as suddenly as he came. Chrom didn’t even catch his name. However, they were surprised when their old friend Maribelle walked in.

“Chrom? You’re the doofus who fell off the roof? Why doesn’t that surprise me?” the blonde nurse laughed.

“Good to see you, too, Maribelle,” Chrom muttered.

“He may be a doofus, but he’s my doofus,” Robin pinched his cheek affectionately.

“Well, consider yourself lucky, Chrom. Most people who fall off a roof end up in far worse condition than this,” said Maribelle.

“It’s actually common?” Robin asked in slight disbelief.

“Around this time of year, yes.”

“Then why did you call me a doofus?” Chrom asked.

“Well dear,” Maribelle told him as if he were a child, “most of the time it’s a father trying to put some magic into Christmas for his children. Not a twenty-something trying to woo his girlfriend.”

Robin laughed while Chrom sulked into his bed.

“Look at the bright side of things. Now you have a reason to wear all those single sleeved shirts—” Robin said.

“Okay, it was ONE TIME in laser tag and I swear there wasn’t a wall there when I jumped around the corner!” Chrom all but cut her off trying to clear his name.

“It’s okay, dear. I still love you despite your fashion sense,” she pecked him on the lips.

“I think I was just insulted,” Chrom stated.

Maribelle smiled at the couple. “I swear, you two are just too cute together!”

Robin’s eyes softened as she looked at Chrom. “I think so, too.”

Suddenly Frederick burst into the room.

“Sir, I brought you a clean sweater, as I thought your business clothes might be a little uncomfortable. Oh, hello, Maribelle,” he said as he saw the nurse.

“Hi, Freddy. How are things with you?”

“Good. Busy, as usual,” he said. An awkward silence filled the small space as everyone ran out of things to say.

“Robin, I’m almost done here if you want to go talk to the nurse at the checkout desk about a follow up appointment,” Maribelle said as she was wrapping Chrom’s arm.

After Robin left and Maribelle finished his cast, Chrom turned to Frederick, who was handing off a green sweater and blue jeans.

“Did you find it?” Chrom asked.

“Find what, sir?” Frederick asked in feign confusion. Chrom’s eyes doubled in size.

“The ring, Frederick! The ring!” he harshly whispered.

“Oh, this?” Frederick produced the small black box from his pocket and opened it to prove that a ring was inside. He handed it to Chrom, who had somehow managed to change his shirt without much trouble. “No need to worry, sir. It’s right here.”

“Don’t scare me like that, man!”

“When are you going to do it?”

Chrom huffed. “Well, I don’t know anymore.”

“Might I suggest the park next to the hospital? The sun will be rising soon.”

“Actually, that’s a good idea,” Chrom smiled. “But first, could you leave so I can change pants?”

___

 

Robin was surprised when Chrom suggested taking a short walk together to watch the sunrise; she figured he’d be tired and aching and ready to sleep. But she couldn’t say no to those icy blue eyes and that loving smile.

The snow had continuously fallen over the course of their visit, and the park looked like something that belonged on a calendar. The sky was starting to turn purple while six inches of undisturbed snow covering the ground glistened in anticipation of the sun’s waking. The two of them walked hand in hand down the park path embracing the silence of early morning until they reached the frozen fountain. A few snowflakes still drifted from the clouds, and they stood as the sky slowly brightened, Chrom’s left arm around Robin’s shoulders. For just the briefest time, it felt as though they were the only two people on the planet.

“Robin?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. She felt his chest vibrate on her back as he spoke.

“Hm?” she hummed, not wanting to break the silence.

“I wanted come here with you for a reason,” he pulled away from her, and she instantly missed his warmth. She turned around to look at him.

“What is it?”

“I know that we’ve only been dating for a little more than a year, but from the first time I met you, I knew that we have something special. You are my best friend, and my true love when I never imagined it was possible to have both,” he said. The sky started to blush a soft pink. “Every minute I’m with you, I feel like my soul is on fire. Every minute you’re gone is an eternity to me. I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. I can’t remember how I lived before I met you, and I can’t bear to think of a future where you aren’t there. Robin, my love, there is no future without you by my side.”

Robin was all but crying at his heartfelt sentiment, but her heart jumped and tears started to fall as Chrom dropped down to one knee and pulled a small black box out of his pocket. He fumbled with it a few seconds and cursed under his breath as he tried opening it with one hand; he started blushing. Robin laughed through her tears.

“Robin,” he said once he opened the box. “Would you make me the happiest man alive? Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” came a breathless sob. She didn’t even look at the ring before answering. “Of course I will, you idiot!”

He stood up and embraced him. He pulled away to kiss her, tears streaming down both their faces and joy filling their hearts.

“Let me put it on your finger,” he said. She pulled back and he took the ring out of the box and slid it on her left hand. It was only then that she really looked at the ring.

“Chrom, how can this be here?” she stared in disbelief at the cushion cut champagne diamond in the rose gold scalloped setting. Small round diamonds framed each point.

“It’s not what you think it is. Your mother’s ring is still with her, where it belongs. However, this is a replica I had made from a picture of her that you showed me, and actually, that diamond is from my mother’s wedding ring. So, I guess you could say it’s from both our mothers.”

She shook her head and smiled as she looked at her new fiancé; she couldn’t find the words to describe how she felt. The sun was almost all the way up now, the water colored sky painting the snow; white flakes rested in his blue hair, and his smile lit up his face. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again.

“I told you I’d make it up to you,” he said.

“You did this time, but don’t try to pull something like that again,” she tried to scold him, but couldn’t manage it through her smile.

“I’m sorry I ruined your perfect Christmas.”

“What are you talking about?” She pulled back just enough to look him in the eye. “It’s Christmas morning, and I got you. That’s all I wanted to begin with.”

“Well, then, Merry Christmas, Robin.”

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope everyone enjoys reading this as much as I did writing it. It was a really nice break from working on Lost at Sea, and I think I've learned that I can't really write anything short.
> 
> I may have spent more time than necessary coming up with background stuff for everyone... but oh well!
> 
> I hope this is Christmas-y enough. I just kinda took an idea and ran crazy with it.
> 
> Please tell me how you reacted! I'm still playing with fluff and a writing style in general, and I'm kind of hoping to ignite those shippy giggles--you know the ones ;)


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